McIntosh tempts audiophiles by unveiling its first Airplay speaker, the McAire

When McIntosh unveils a new product, you can watch audiophiles flock like a suit-clad man just announced the New York Lotto jackpot. Today, McIntosh unveiled its tabletop McAire AirPlay speaker and while some are certainly salivating, the price point may prove prohibitive for non-affluent audiophiles,

McIntosh’s first AirPlay effort, the $3000 speaker measures 8 X 19.4 X 17, and sports a black-glass front panel, along with ice-blue, visible output meters. It’s outfitted with two 4-inch woofers, two 2-inch midrange drivers, and two 0.75-inch dome tweeters, an embedded Wi-Fi system, and an Apple-certified USB port for quick-charging iPods and phones, but not pads. No biggie, at 31 lbs, the McAire is decidedly non-portable. So long as you have a better charger in the house, it shouldn’t be too much of a headache.

Other features include, removable speaker grilles that can cover or expose the tweeters and midrange drivers, and an associated phone app that displays a digital facsimile of the McAire’s output meters on your device. While those are fun flourishes, the McAire is going to shoot for the one thing McIntosh always seeks out: top-level sound. The rest is a side note. The speaker is available now through authorized McIntosh dealers.